Author's Notes: Please be aware that this chapter and the next aren't in any specific timeline order. They are just how these people closed out their time during the epidemic. So, if they seem to jump around, that's because they do. I'm closing the people out in the reverse order that they entered the story.

Dillon fidgeted. He didn't like funerals. He didn't want to be at a funeral. Even though he rarely ever came by the mansion, Justus Ward was family and that meant that Dillon had to be at his funeral. He had to sit there and listen as everybody said these great things. One by one, the family went up there, giving some story about Justus. Edward segued into Mary Mae, and everybody cried. Even Tracy went up there, and somehow ended up at Grandmother, then back to Justus. They all went up there. All of them except Dillon, because he really didn't have that much to say.

Dillon really didn't know him. Sure, he knew his past with the family, and he knew about the things he'd done since coming back to Port Charles, but as a person, Dillon had to sadly admit that he really didn't know Justus Ward.

"Kinda screwed up, don't ya think?" He leaned into Georgie. She turned towards him, and she had tears in her eyes. That was kinda screwed up, he thought, but not what he was talking about. She didn't really know Justus that well, either. "I mean, this guy was my cousin, or something like that, and I didn't even know him."

"You've got a big family, Dillon," she whispered. "And everybody has their own lives."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed and faced the minister. "But still… I didn't know him all that well. I've gotta be the only Quartermaine that hasn't gotten up there and said anything about him."

"Well, do you want to?"

Dillon shrugged. "I didn't know him. I don't have anything to say."

Dillon shrank down in his chair, and slowly his head turned towards his mother. She was a viper. She was mean to everyone, Justus included, and yet, she sat there looking sad. She gave so much hell to so much of the family, but when they died, she was right there. You always had to love your family. You just didn't have to like them. There were a whole lot of Quartermaines that Tracy didn't like, but Dillon could see from her face that she loved them all. And when they left, she would miss them all.

"Do you want to say something?"

Dillon blinked up at his mother and shook his head. "I didn't really know him," he said with a sigh. Dillon turned back to face the minister again. Everyone was standing now, the service nearly over, and Dillon stood with him. He turned for the procession, for the family to go by and touch Justus's coffin, and he just followed along.

It was sad that Justus died. It was sad that Dillon hadn't gotten to know him well enough to actually have something to say at his funeral. But, and it felt so evil to say, so selfish and cruel, but at least he had lived. Dillon would miss Justus, and be saddened by the fact that he'd never get to know him, but in the end… In the end, Dillon was still alive, and at least he had the chance to mourn that fact.

"Are you sure you don't want to…"

Alexis shook her head and put her hand against Ric's lips. "We've had enough funerals, Ric. I don't think I could take one more."

She closed her eyes and leaned back on the sofa. Three funerals in two days had been too much. Alexis hadn't known what to say to Nikolas or Luke. Seated behind them at Lucky's funeral, she could only look at them, knowing there was nothing she could do to help her friend or her nephew in their grief. So many people had already told Luke that it wasn't his fault. He didn't need one more person telling him. Emily kept telling Nikolas not to feel guilty because he survived. Alexis telling him again was redundant.

But, she had tried both. She spoke to them, telling them the same things they'd heard over and over again, and there was nothing there. It didn't help them. It didn't ease their pain. They just took the words with downcast eyes and heavy hearts. For once, Luke and Nikolas were on the same page, and while this would cause most people to bond, Lucky's death would only drive them further apart. Alexis could only hope that, in his grief, Luke didn't start another Cassadine war.

Then there were the funerals of Sonny and Courtney. The services were held together, and they were buried together. Kristina didn't understand what was going on. She sat next to Morgan, and he didn't understand either. Beside him was Michael, and unfortunately, he understood all too well. The children kept their mothers separated. Two mothers who would have to find a way to explain this entire thing to their children but didn't know how to do that.

There was another reason for discomfort at the funeral, though. Lucky's funeral had been family, friends, and his fellow police officers. Lucky had gotten a full police funeral with salute and everything. In comparison, Sonny's funeral was something out of a mob movie. There were people there that Alexis remembered from her days as Sonny's attorney. There were other faces there that she didn't recognize. Those that she knew and those that she didn't made a procession past Jason when the funeral ended. The air was very tense, full of sights that Alexis didn't want to see.

Another funeral was just… it was too much.

Justus was a colleague, a friend on some levels. Alexis had friends within the Quartermaine family. She and Ned had been on strange terms for years, but she still wanted to be there for him. She felt that she should have gone, should have stood there to tell Justus goodbye, but… She just couldn't.

"As much as I want to give my goodbyes to Justus," she told Ric, "I can't go through another one. I have to find some way to tell Kristina that her father is gone. I have to find some way to help Nikolas and Luke." She reached out and lightly touched Ric's cheek. "And as close as you and Sonny were becoming, as much as I hated it… I know this is hard for you, too."

Ric sighed and took hold of her hand. He brought it around from his cheek to press his lips against her knuckles. "When I first came here, I wanted him to suffer. I wanted to kill him. Now, he's dead and… I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel."

"He was your brother, Ric. If you're holding back anguish on my account, don't bother. No matter what I felt towards Sonny, he was still your brother."

"Are you glad that he's gone? That the danger is gone?"

"Ric…" She stopped. Was she glad that Kristina was out of danger? Of course. As a mother, all she wanted was for her children to be safe. Kristina and Molly were both safe now, because they didn't have to worry about the danger of their relations. But, did she want him dead… "I haven't wished Sonny was dead in a long time, Ric. I just wanted him to leave us alone."

"But…"

Alexis sighed and shook her head. "But, if my choices were him butting in our lives, constantly battling for Kristina, and having him dead, I would choose the first. Kristina doesn't deserve to go through this, and if I could save her from that, I would put up with Sonny for the rest of our lives."

AJ stood on the edge of the lawn, just behind the bushes. He didn't have any right there, and if Emily knew he had planned to go, she would have tried to stop him. He didn't even know why he'd shown up. He didn't really want to be there. He didn't care to watch Sonny's funeral, but something in him and drawn him there. He felt like he had to be there. Like he was supposed to be there. Like he had some kind of duty to be there.

He had watched him die. AJ had been more lucid than he wanted to be when Sonny died. For all of the time that he'd been unconscious in the hospital, why couldn't he have been at that moment? Why did he have to be awake to hear the doctors working on Sonny? To hear them trying to bring him back.

He hadn't known that Michael was actually there to witness it until he'd told Carly. AJ hadn't seen Michael until it was all over and Sonny was taken from the room. He knew that his son had seen Sonny's body. He didn't know that he'd actually watched him die.

When Michael came into the room, he didn't say anything. He just sat down beside AJ, in the chair that Emily had left at his bedside. He sat down and took his hand, then the two of them just stared. They stared until Michael was finally taken home by Carly, and then AJ stared some more. Sonny was gone, and maybe now, AJ had a chance with his son. But for someone to die to get to that point… AJ knew that Sonny could have killed him to get his hands on Michael, might have even done it. AJ didn't want to go through those means to get Michael. He just wanted his son to want him.

And then there was Courtney. Didn't want her to dead, but he had to admit that he really didn't care that much. As a life lost, her death made AJ sad. As anything else… She'd been nothing to him for years. Her death, to AJ, was like a stranger's death. Sad in its occurrence, but nothing that would make him lose any sleep.

"AJ?" He shook his head and looked up, then he looked down. "What are you doing here?"

"I…" AJ shook his head. "I don't know." He sighed and looked across the lawn. Jason wouldn't come, because he was too busy with the procession of mob bosses that came to pay their respects. Carly looked like she would leave her place at the caskets to bring Michael back, but she had to hold on to Morgan. "You should be with your mom."

Michael shrugged. "I wanted to come over here. I guess I just wanted to make sure you weren't gonna cause trouble."

"You should know by now that I'm not gonna do that, Michael. You should have learned that in the past few days."

"I know." He shrugged again. "I guess I just don't have another reason." Michael turned behind him, looking towards his mother, then turned back to AJ. "There's gonna be a lot of people at the house after the funeral."

"Usually are," he told him. "I'm expecting as much tomorrow with Justus's funeral."

"I don't really want to be there, though. So, um, if I decide to leave and I leave a note for Mom…"

"Michael, you're not supposed to just run off."

Once more, he shrugged. "I'm just letting you know, I might run off. After about an hour or so. I'll probably go to the park. I'm just saying. I'll probably be at the park in a hour or two."

With that, he turned and walked off. The second he reached her, Carly was asking questions that AJ couldn't hear. And right then, he didn't care, because he had to leave. He had to go and sit in the park, because in an hour or two, Michael would be there.